Perez ready for best race at state

LA JOYA — Advancing to state competition has become somewhat of a yearly routine for La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Emily Perez. The Huskies senior runner advanced for the fourth time to the cross country state meet, which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

Her time of 11 minutes, 1 second at regionals was 13 seconds better than her closest competitor, giving Perez her third-straight region IV championship. Perez’s impressive reign began after her freshman year, the only season she did not win regionals. That’s when changes in her training took effect.

“The (Juarez-Lincoln) boys are state-ranked and I thought that training with them will get me to another level,” Perez said. “They have turned me into the hard-working person I am.”

At first, running with a girl might seem out of the norm, but ultimately, the Juarez-Lincoln boys embraced Perez as one of their own.

“Every day it’s hard. I’m used to the guys giving me a hard time,” Perez said. “But afterwards, they respect me. When I run with them, I’m their competition and they’re mine. I’m just like one of the guys.”

And though the Huskies girls failed to advance to state as a team, Perez will be joined by the J-L boys’ team who edged out District 32-4A rival Mercedes for the third and final team spot.

“Having the boys there present will be motivation for Emily and vice versa.”Huskies boys coach Gilberto Carreon said.

Perez knows Saturday is her last race as a Husky and looks to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish at state, her personal best.

“I’m really focused on my goals,” Perez said, “it’s my very last cross country race and I want to win.”

Another runner who faces his last race is Valley View’s Jose Delgado. The Tigers senior finished third overall in the 4A competition with a time of 15 minutes, 27 seconds and was one of three Valley runners to crack the top 10 (Weslaco East’s Jose Martinez and Juarez-Lincoln’s Joel Gracia were the others).

Delgado is the second runner to advance to state under coach Eduardo Cruz for the Tigers as a Class 4A school, and expects to represent South Texas well at Round Rock.

“I’m very motivated,” Delgado said in Spanish. “I know the competition is tough, but I have a great opportunity to represent the Valley and I want to do well.”

Cruz said the regional competition course at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio was a challenge that prepared Delgado for state.

“You think it’s not challenging,” Cruz said, “But once you’re hitting the slopes, he felt it. He told me it was like a thousand miles of slopes.

“He didn’t pace himself well but he still finished third place and it was great preparation (for state).”

Other Valley individual qualifiers were Andres Watson (San Perlita), Armando Fierro (Port Isabel), David Guillen (Los Fresnos) and Jose Jaime (La Joya Palmview). On the girls side, it was Jazmine Garcia (Zapata), Danielle Rodriguez and Thalia Polando (Lyford) and Marissa Mata (Mercedes). The Edinburg High Lady Bobcats were the lone girls team to qualify for state.